Ranulph grinned at Jasmine then sprinted after the Dragon Twins, mailed boots feeling like bricks.
Bullets whined past and he took longer strides, leaping over fallen books. Heart hammering against his ribs, he caught the vessel’s rail and leapt. He glimpsed volumes scattered the length of the deck, then flopped onto the planking.
No longer invisible, Maud stood at the steering oar, short mailcoat shimmering in the firelight, long legs braced. With a peel of laughter she leaned forward. The vessel picked up speed. Her red hair billowed behind her and she whooped.
#
Jasmine bellowed, "Stop them!" As she sprinted after the flying longship, she repeated the order loud enough to hurt her throat.
Soldiers spun and fired through the smoke, but the unnatural vessel swept on through the burning library. It dipped, squealed over the flagstones then crashed through the leftmost pair of doors. An answering crash came from behind Jasmine – a section of shelving had collapsed. Smoldering volumes covered the floor like a lava flow.
One of them had the Tolmec Dancing Earth Fish god on the cover.
Jasmine reached for it but tripped. She stumbled, leaned back to right herself.
A spasm went through her chest as if the Tolmec tattoo were trying to tear itself free.
Jasmine skidded and fell backwards. Her foot caught the Tolmec volume and flipped it high into the smoky air.
The book crashed into a burning bookcase and vanished in a shower of embers.
As Jasmine righted herself, the priestess's voice echoed through her memory: "You are chosen to do the will of the Dancing Earth Fish."
Thanks to Jasmine, the Tolmecs had their magic back and there was no way of taking it away again.
Jasmine grabbed a sergeant by her lapels. "People down..." She coughed. "... back there. Rescue. Bucket chain. Save what's left of the books." Then she pushed through milling soldiers and out into the rain-battered Lower Courtyard.
It was full of tanks and infantry. Tank Commanders, Carbineers, even Security Workers with shotguns, squinted up into the icy downpour and filled the air with light and lead.
Trailing streamers of tracer, pinned by tank searchlights, the flying dragonship spiralled up between Holy Mount's high walls while Maud’s hair streamed like a comet tail from where she stood at the steering oar.
It reached the parapet then dropped down on the other side of the wall.
Muzzles lowered, and the din of gunfire gave way to the storm's continuous thunder.
Jasmine wove between soldiers and vehicles, took the steps to the parapet in a dozen long bounds, and leaned out between the crenellations.
Writhing worms of lighting infested the rumbling clouds, spilling coruscating phosphorescence over Holy Bay. At the far side of the natural amphitheatre, little figures streamed away into the coastal pass – the native army falling back on Middleburgh.
Jasmine picked out the longship, cutting across the white-topped breakers at fifty metres. She raised her field glasses and used one hand to shield the lenses from the rain. There was Maud, mailcoat glittering in the storm-light, the wind making her red tresses snake.
Mary Schumacher's voice pierced the din. "Why couldn't we shoot it down?"
"Plain old magic," said Jasmine. She lowered her glasses. "You did well, Mary", she said, and realised how hoarse she sounded. I'm a grizzled veteran, now. She grinned.
Schumacher tucked a sodden lock of hair into her crash helmet. "You don't seem awfully bothered they got away, Field Marshal."
"When we arrived," said Jasmine, "it was them or us – our way or theirs. Now whoever wins won’t look much like either of the original sides."
"Oh... Will we be able to go home?"
Jasmine shrugged. "At least there are no Aliens here."
She turned back to her people and found herself looking beyond the grey-uniformed soldiers to the ancient stones of the Holiest House and thinking of the history that would have been – uniformed armies raping the shattered Empire in the name of God, smoke-belching factories rearing up across the landscape and consuming the forests, then the Great Economic Collapse, and the Egality and the Elitists battling to the death like twins fighting in a dying mother's womb. Whatever happened now would be different. Perhaps Ranulph was right.
And perhaps, when next she met the sorceress and the knight...
"Fancy a comfort shag, Field Marshal?" asked Mary Schumacher.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Dragon Twins passed out from under the rain clouds and Ranulph found himself staring up at the naked sky where the Red Planet — the old Ilian War God — glowed like a hot coal amidst the coldly luminous stars.
The flying longship hove-to and as the motion ceased, Maud left the steering oar to stand over him. "I had a good mind to leave you to it," she said.
Ranulph laughed. "You could have interrupted at any time." He caught her behind the knees and drew her down so that she landed astride him.
Maud tossed her head to flick back wet strands of hair then ground her hips. "You enjoyed kissing her."
"You enjoyed watching," said Ranulph. He fumbled with the strings of his hose — how had his fingers got so cold?
"Indeed I did," said Maud. She lifted, then slid down like a well-oiled scabbard sheathing a blade — except that it was supposed to be the blade that moved. Her green eyes widened. "I have my magic now."
“You always did, my love,” said Ranulph.
#
And far away to the west, the noonday sun pounded steam out of the jungle-drenched mountains.
A scream cut off with a gurgle.
Smiling demurely, Wisdom-at-Night placed a still-beating heart on the offering tray of the Dancing Earth Fish.
The pyramid juddered, bucked.
Priestesses and eunuchs screamed and clung to the fly-haloed idols. Wisdom-at-Night merely sprang onto the altar to stand astride the victim as the pyramid lurched skyward.
All over the city, and the surrounding jungle, pyramids heaved out of the mud to join it.
Wisdom-at-Night raised her blood-soiled arms, threw back her head and laughed. "Jasmine has done the will of the Dancing Earth Fish! Now Earth conquers Air, and the Tolmecs shall conquer all..."
#
YOU HAVE BEEN READING SWORDS VERSUS TANKS!
Keep an eye out for the follow-up series…
SWORDS AND TANKS VERSUS MAGIC
Coming in 2017!
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Table of Contents
Contents
Book 5: Champions Battle for the Fate of the Future
Copyright
Dedications
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Champions Battle for the Fate of the Future!: The Wild Finale of (Swords Versus Tanks Book 5) Page 7
